City Plan Sets 21 as Legal Age to Buy Tobacco (4/23/13)

NEW YORK -- No one under 21 would be able to buy cigarettes in New York City under a proposal unveiled Monday to make the city the most populous place in America to set the minimum age that high.

Extending a decade of moves to crack down on smoking in the nation's largest city, the idea aims to stop young people from developing a habit that remains the leading preventable cause of death here and nationwide, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said as she announced the plan. Eighty percent of the city's smokers started lighting up before they were 21, officials say.

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